The Original Juice

Sun, 24th May 09

The Simei Gang wanted to pile up their miles on their brand new car before they can drive more than 80kmh, so we decided to go out sightseeing.

Nenek and Tufeil

Syifaa' shldn't be excluded.

Only now its become an expensive landed property area






Back in the 60s, it used to flood very often here.





Stopped by at Ba'Alwi for Zohr. Two babies asleep.

Now's lunchtime. We wanted to eat somewhere air conditioned (weather was unforgivingly HOT), wheelchair friendly and some place Nenek hasnt been to. So we ended up at Vivocity.

Yayan and Nenek eating at The Chicken Rice Shop.

Syifaa' being fed from baby chair.






While i try to feed myself with baby on the carrier in front.
Quite successful w just a drop of chilli on Tufeil's arms.
He slept most of the time.

The whole day i had only been carrying him. Its only when we went to vivo that i used this Mothercare carrier. It was my first time and i really didnt know how to adjust. So first thing after we parked, i went to Mothercare outlet (thank god they had one there!) and asked the sales personnel to adjust it for me. haha went there just for that. But of course i cldnt resist taking the opportunity to shop a bit.

After that, we stopped by at the brand new mosque Al Mawaddah @ Sengkang for Asr.

Tufeil, Syifaa' and me were all in Red.

Then we visited "Aunty" Sarina the Jap girl.

Tufeil didnt last 5min in this basket before he cried n i fed him.

We were only there for 30min, 90% of the time i was in the room feeding the babe. Didn't even get to drink =(

I am soo amused by this Kerokerokeroppi's baby stool. It looks soooo tiny besides "Uncle Ben"




But just nice for Syifaa' n Baby Sarina to sit on.

It was maghrib when we reached Kak Ly's new house which is two blocks away. I contemplated going home because i felt soooooooooooooooooo drop dead tired. But firstly, i didnt wanna be left alone and then thinking i shld get my dinner there, so i went along. Ended up, we stayed till like 10pm!!

All in all, quite traumatic esp the putting up carrier part @ the shopping center and bearing with the heat. But thankfully Baby's feeding timing coincide with our travelling in car moments or in the house so it was quite comfortable... but i had no rest at all. When my sisters asked me why are you so tired, i couldnt even begin to describe to them how. Maybe they tot im just weak? humph :P

21st May 09


Some pictures for memory


Cik Girl's and Nenek's one room apartment.

Aunty NOLL is ready to have her own baby. *wink*

The Young Nenek Girl and her 2nd Grandson. =)

Syifaa' Borrowed Uncle Hamzah's shirt.

I SCREWED UP BIG TIME!!

Remember i told u his front was bleeding after the circumcision? Well.. As of Sunday, one week after, it was still bleeding and i thought that was it. I went to the polyclinic the next day.

After 30min of waiting (miraculous on a monday @ Poly but i suppose newborns get a bit of priority), our number was called.

Thankfully, we got a muslim doctor. He was surprised and said this is the first time he gotta know of a boy being circumcised so early and i told him some pple did it even at 7 days! He wanted to know the reason behind doing so. I was stumped. I didnt know why i did it. I had my reservations like i wrote earlier.. but i supposed i succumbed to pressures around me.

His stake is that the foreskin is there for a reason. To protect it. From his point of view, circumcision is more a religious rite than for medical reasons and that its best done at age 6 or 7 when the foreskin doesnt play much role anymore and the boy can now understand and better appreciate this ritual.

He said Tufeil has got an infection and prescribed antibiotic cream to be applied twice a day. Total amount due: $5.50 (cream was $0.75! hehe so cute)


At home, I thought thru about what have gone wrong. Pple told me to stick the diaper loosely, i did. To change diaper very often, i did. So what is it??

Then i was about to apply cream on him when a realisation slapped me right in the face. All these while i didn't actually wipe his front!! I only ever cleaned his bottom but never the thing itself. i really dont know why i didnt do it, but something along the time of the fact that boys spray only one direction and therefore not so dirty? I know its pure silliness.

I blundered greatly. I'm sorry my baby.

1. He can finally wear his 0 - 3 months clothes!!!! Suddenly i have so many to choose from and the basic white vests get neglected...
2. Now that there's so many clothes, i started to change him into nightwear when i top and tail him in the evening (between 9 - 10pm) consisting of long sleeves and long pants.
3. I hafta say i LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE rompers and bodysuits. so easy to wear and to burp baby in (the shirt doesnt move)!
4. Finally sleeps thru the night 4 - 5hrs and slowly sleeping earlier n earlier... it used to be 3am now if im lucky he could sleep at 12mn (pattern started from the painkiller dose)
5. Felt safe enough to put him in the stroller and baby carrier but find it diff to cajole him to lie in sling
6. He permanently sleeps on the bed with me but so far still manage to refuse to let the cot be just another storage space. LOL (Let's see how long that will go on)
7. Mum who hadnt showered him for a month noticed how much he's grown
8. Yot and other relatives noted that he is not afraid of people and that he loves for pple to play (agah2) with him. Also that his neck is very strong.
9. He yawns and stretches like me.
10. He had his first nail cut at 6 weeks but i still put on his mittens on and off and esp at night cos im afraid he might still scratch his precious cute chubby (masya'Allah) face.

Hmmm my blog nowadays seems to be about nothing else but my precious baby. I can't tell you how surreal this all still is to me. Sometimes when i feed him i still think, "Do i really already have my own child?!" I cant believe i gave birth to this being altho he's in front of my eyes now

Fri, 22nd May

It was almost a shame to stop giving Tufeil the paracetamol because he was sleeping so soundly at night. LOL! (I was that desperate)

Thursday, 4th day, Mummy helped me to bathe him because im too scared too. Since Mummy said that bathing would help the healing process (Now she say!!) i woke up early (at 8am) esp so mum could do the honours and so it would be justified to give him a full fledged afternoon bath as opposed to just top and tailing (lap lap).

And so the ring came off Friday morning. Before that i can see how Butterflyrubrics said it looked a bit swollen but it was just the ring detaching itself from the skin partially.

Later in the afternoon during a nappy change, I tot i saw my baby winced or startled as i opened the soiled diaper. A few seconds later, there was some blood from its tip!!! But since he didn't cry i tot i'd just let it be see how it goes.

Now its already Sunday and its still bleeding on and off. Macam melecet gitu. So im gonna send him to the doc today. Im contemplating between going to Raffles Medical (bcos its easier to go) or to Polyclinic where newborns / babies get priority. Probably the latter.

Wed 13th May 09



I got a call from the office to ask where is the Year 2007 spreadsheet for a certain report i've made for Paris bosses. I told them it should be in those folders lah but they couldn't find the one that is as at 31st Dec 08 but only the one in Oct 08.


Hmmm i can't really rectify the issue when its not really in front of me. But I also told them that i always make the report based on the current data as opposed to the previous report. It would be more accurate and up to date and they should take it from there too. No can't do. Die die gotta have the soft copy of the previous report. If they really want the EXACT same sheet, why dont just colour scan it? Won't make no difference, otherwise just analyse from the current data lah. I suspect she doesnt know how to n would rather input new info manually.


In any case, i offered to come down and take a look since its so urgent for Paris boss. Besides, I wanna bring my son to the office too since not many of them have seen Tufeil yet.


Fikir punye fikir punye fikir... Alamak macam leceh lah..(after much thought... i tot its a bit troublesome).. What if i hafta longer in the office and baby needs feeding and changing? I can't bring just the sling, and if he sleeps, he won't have nowhere to lie down. I can't bring the stroller cos i dont know how to fold it in when i get into the cab. So many problems lah.


In the end, i had to disappoint them by not coming. They just hafta manage with what they've got. Besides, I have also given them alternative ways of doing it.


A week later, I e-mailed my boss. I said, "While i'm eager to start work and see the progress of EPI book, at the same time i feel i'm not ready yet. I would like to extend my maternity leave till end of June ie 10days and start on 1st July"

I feel i'm not ready because the babe still refuses to sleep till 1 - 2am... with the hour running up to bedtime he would be sooo cranky and require comfort sucking every hour. I cannot imagine how i could manage that if i've started work already. I hope 2 more weeks would make some sort of diff and from now till then, the babe would settle into a more manageable routine. (Amen)


Boss replied back and said, "Noted your leave extension. I'll be on leave for a month from1 st - 31st July. So you will have that time to settle into work."

First reaction was: Hoorayy!! no pressure to clean up whatever mess there would be.
Second reaction: Oh no.. what if i got a lot of questions to ask in order to clear that mess?

Oh well... the most imp thing is my leave has been extended!

Last Sat, 9th May 09

Mummy suddenly told me she was thinking of bringing Tufeil to see his great grandmother and i jumped at the idea. My grandmother hasn't seen her 2nd great granchild yet and i imagine its a big deal to her. I still remember this conversation i overheard about a year ago at a wedding between my grandma and her peers. "Ini cicit kita. Awak dah ada cicit? OH belum?" (This is my great granddaughter. Do you have any yet? Oh no?)

Plus she's not very well to travel to us so its only fair that WE go to HER. Also, i feel like im her favouritest grandchild cos she always seem extra happy to see me. :P to my cousins if they're reading this. hehehe

Very unfortunate that i forgot to take any picture cos we were rather occupied lah.

The one cute thing that happened that will forever be etched in my mind is that Syifaa', who was also with us, called out to my mum, "Nenek!" and MY grandma also said, "Yes?" No, we all still can't picture our nenek to be a Yot, neither could she esp when she still has very young grandchildren like Sarina (The Japanese mix girl).

Sun, 17th May 09.

I was dragged awake by Mum @ 8am in the freaking morning to finally make our way to Crescent Clinic to circumcise our Dear Tufeil.

We reached there around 9:30am and in less than 30min we were on the way home! The procedure took less than 5min.

We brought in the baby. Doctor asked if he's had any medical condition / history such as heart disease bla bla bla... and how old was he. He was being put on the operating table. There was some deposits on the diaper and the doc was in such a hurry that he said nevermind just fold it. But i did give them a clean one and they changed him afterwards.

Then I was just about to take out my hp to snap a picture when we were BOTH shooed out of the room. Damn! I suppose it was for the best, because if any of us were to hold him, we sure would go all jittery. I definitely will get a jelly leg and didnt intend to look let alone HOLD him.

In the meantime, the nurse at the counter called me and showed me a picture of how it should look like. And gave me the prescribed painkiller. 1.5ml of paracetamol every 6hours. She told us to come back 2 days later for a follow up check up and gave emergency numbers to call after office hours. Made payment of $85.

He cried but braved thru the procedure

The first 12hrs was a nightmare!

When we reached home some 45min later, he started crying non-stop. I called the doctor. Oh I was supposed to give him the painkiller now and not 6hours after. I mean, C'mon i tot the doc already gave him.

He took a nap. When he woke up crying the house down, my parents have already gone to a wedding. Thank God Ash was home to help me soothe him n took turns to have our lunch.

He was SUPER cranky. And i realise i dont know NUTS about taking care of circumcised boys! Like i noticed the nurse didnt strap the diaper properly. Was that on purpose or they were just lazy/in a rush? Can he sleep on his tummy? Can i carry him over my shoulder or wld it hurt?

God! All these Qns and being cranky and alone really not a good mix man. If i knew, i wldnt agree to having it done so EARLY in the morning and on a day that my parents won't be at home much! Altho to be fair, my mum wldnt know any more than i do as she's never taken care of a boy before but it helps having a confident person around.

Next dose at 4pm were 2hours away and we were getting anxious. Mummy is still not due back but i begged them to come at 4pm to help feed the baby his medicine. I'm such a scaredety (however u spell it?) cat im scared even to syringe in medicine to the babe's mouth.

He was cranky ALL night i had to make a couple of calls to 'Azma to ask what's wrong and what shld we do. She deduced that Tufeil just needs to be comforted since he still feeds normally (in between cries though) and yes i should loosen the diaper a bit but no i cannot increase the dosage on my own. haha

His 3rd dose of paracetamol was at 11pm. at 12midnight he was still crying despite the endless feeding i gave him. So i decided to call the doctor. (He sounded like he was at a party. LOL!)

Doc: Is it swollen?

Me: Hmmm not really. It looks so but we can't be sure. (We asked Ayah earlier but he said its normal)

Doc: Is it bleeding?

Me: Hmmm there are a few drops of blood on the diaper.

He also concluded that he just wanted to be comforted and told ME to calm down but if i'm anxious, the baby will be too. Right after i hung up, Tufeil was sleeping soundly on Mummy's chest and that's how he slept till 4hours later.

Tues, 19th May 09 - Day of Check Up

Mummy and i took the cab down all the way to Eunos for the check up. Just two pple in front of us. We were called in soon after and were asked to put baby down for inspection. He took a peek for barely 2 seconds and snapped, "ok good. the ring will drop off in 3 - 5 days' time."

Me: What's the yellow yellow thing above the ring? Is it a thread?

Doc: No there's no thread. that's part of the ring which like i said will come off in 3 - 5 days' time

Mummy: Then the painkiller...?

Doc: You can stop already.

It's not how i imagined it to be at all! I need some discussion, feedback about my babies' condition! Why is he in such a hurry and dismissed us so? I know you are an expert and have been doing it for so many years (even for my friend's husband who's now.. what? 30?).. but i think its just that. He's tired of playing doctor.

Sorry friends who've been there. But this exp left me quite dissatisfied. Next time, im gonna go for somebody a bit younger. No pun intended.

Sat, 16th may 09.

So Zubair brought us to Swensen's. Causeway Point. Ok its not very far at all but its still a First outing for us which is purely recreational and not for some appointment or anything.

It was also the first time we finally get to use the stroller.

I had just fed the babe before going out but just for 10min before Zubair said, "Its going to rain soon" and i had to stop prematurely. So i also abandoned my intention to change diaper.

Z ordered BBQ Half Chicken and me Swensen's Combo which are all finger fried stuffs. And fortunately too, because half way into our late lunch, Tufeil got cranky and Zubair held him first. I tried to knife out some bits of chicken for him so he cld eat while holding the baby but my cutlery skills are never there.

So instead, i cut up my chicken to forkfuls and told him to pass the baby and i fed the baby and ate with my right hand. A good thing we got a seat way at the back of the restaurant so it was quite discreet. We were very fortunate too that baby had a good latch on and did get off till he was full.

(I'm digging my new $68 specs!)

The only thing was we had to persevere with the er... dirty diaper smell till when we reached home.

"Mummy, Hurry up, please. I want to be changed!"

On Mothercare counter, Urgent shopping.

17th Apr 09

I've just uploaded my video from hp to pc and in the previous post, it was successfully uploaded to the site, so i'm adding this one at last.

Just for memory's sake.

7th May 09


Zubair has been mentioning to buy a buai / baby swing for Tufeil because he's tired of rocking the baby to sleep every time.


And so Last thurs, he bought this Glider and its SUPER NICE.

You can also adjust the speed of the gliding motion

Wed 6th May 09


I popped out at 3pm to catch 17 Again at causeway Point. Alone.

At Birth

Less than 12hrs old

1month old - At Poly for 2nd dose of Hep B Immunisation

Tues, 28th Apr

Baby's due for 2nd Hep B Immunisation jab. It's also a follow up Check up for his jaundice.


Good news. His jaundice was just 23. (4 weeks ago it was 117) I asked the doctor if there's gonna be another appt for his 1month check up but she said no as she's already examined the baby. So i asked her then, what are all these... dots / spots all over his body esp on the thighs and head. Upon inspection, she said it's eczema. Because i have history of asthma, baby would be proned to itchiness, flu and stuffs. Hmmm


She just advised to not wrap him up too often. Give the skin some air. and NOT to use powder.


I wanted to ask her too why the baby kept making this wheezing noises as though he is suffocating. But i dont think i explained it well cos i used the word choking instead of suffocating and so she told me maybe the baby was just greedy when drinking milk and to just pat his back.


Next was the Nursing Room for the injection. Tufeil was a good boy. But because it was already feeding time, he cried n cried n cried. The nurse was the one who felt bad and apologised for taking so long but because it was our first jab, she had to explain the procedures and the diff programs available.


Progress @ Week 5:

- Weight 4kg (Up 1kg)

- Length 56cm (up 6cm!!!)


WOW. Masya'Allah.

Sat, 25th Apr


My 2nd sis (Syifaa's mother) stayed at our place for the weekend. (Yes she's officially moved.) We wanted to go out somewhere but cldnt decide where n when (as in what time) until First sis (Ash) had to go off to meet a friend. So the two of us (plus 2 babies and a maid) ended up going to Jurong Point for dinner at Pizza Hut.


Actually i almost wanted to back out because the baby was cranky and making me cranky too. Esp since it'd b my first time gg out with the bb without Zubair and my first time trying out the sling. But Ly persuaded me otherwise.


So at 8pm, we finally went out.

The Sling.

The Baby safely inside! (And this is the sneak preview! LOL)

I'm not so sure it's very comfortable for me OR the baby because i still had to hold his head and he looks all crooked being folded in the sling. Granted, it did lift like half the weight off plus no wriggling. But because i just fed and changed him, it was a comfortable ride as he slept on...

But towards the end of dinner, he started crying!! Feeding Time!! Oh God.. i was soo clueless at how to do it. Pro-Slingers are all saying we can do it while babe is in the sling. But the truth is... its VERY Diff.. ok.. its my first time after all. It was sooo uncomfortable and "kekok" even baby got agitated and cried n cried n cried. Its a no wonder cos he kept "losing" the milk with the awkward position and it was soooo damn hot under so many layers the sling was visibly wet with his sweat! Really!

We finished dessert quickly and left. My arm was aching already and i still havent buttoned up. We left the maid to Q for cab then we tried to find the nearest toilet to adjust everything. But it was soooo freaking far i cldnt walk anymore! So i settled for the nearest staircase. Poor Syifaa' got frightened by the ventilation noise. TO be honest, i was too. But i was sooo desperate!

Got back to the Q almost just nice for our turn. Thank God Ly offered to carry Tufeil cos i really cldnt take it anymore. She even hid the babe under the tudung panjang because it was late and there are "trees" around.

We reached home 11.20pm.

Quite traumatic for me, it was. But hey... we've got to start somewhere huh.